Wednesday, October 14, 2015

Over the course of Barack Obama’s Presidency the
activists working for the advancement of LGBT rights have seen a rapid
succession of victories: in 2010 Congress repealed Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, in
2013 the Supreme Court declared Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act
unconstitutional, and then in June the Court legalized same-sex marriage
nationwide. The amount of success in the pursuit of equality over the past
eight years is astonishing by any measure but according to journalist Kerry Eleveld it is especially
incredible considering that when Obama first took office he, like many
politicians, still viewed gay rights as politically toxic. In her new book Don’t Tell Me To Wait: How The Fight For Gay Rights Changed America and Transformed Obama’s Presidency chronicles Obama’s transformation
from cautious gradualist to gay rights champion and explains how this was the
result of intense pressure from LGBT activists.
Kerry joins me today to talk all about the book and explain how
activists pushed the president to change his mind, turned the tide of political
opinion, and set the nation on course to finally embrace LGBT Americans as full
citizens of this country. You can also follow Kerry on twitter.

Listen to The Michelangelo Signorile Show weekdays live from 3-6 pm ET on SiriusXM Progress 127 and on the SiriusXM iPhone, Blackberry and Android apps. Not a subscriber? Not a problem! Listen online any time with a free thirty-day pass or, if you have an if you have an iPhone or Blackberry, go to the app store and download SiriusXM for free, for a 7-day trial, and listen on your phone.

The Michelangelo Signorile Show airs across the U.S. and Canada weekdays from 3-6 p.m. EST on SiriusXM Progress 127, and on the iPhone via the Sirius XM iPhone app. Listen online at any time by getting a free three-day pass and tuning to Progress 127. Learn more about my show and Progress. For interview ideas and show topics, please e-mail producer Sean Bertollo.

If you're a regular listener to the show, please take our listener survey and let us learn more about you so we can bring you more of what you like about the show.